I'll start with some pictures.

I am struggling to find time to tell ya'll about my trip up north a few weeks ago and I also had a wonderful weekend that I need to dish as well. I just loaded my pics from the trip onto my computer, so let's start with those. I went with four friends from school. We rented a car and went on what I will call a "whirlwind tour of the North" in retrospect:) I had tons of fun and I can't wait to do it again with my parents in December and then with my Hells Bells when she comes to live it up in the holy land this July. BTW, if any of you other beloveds of mine feel like paying me a visit I promise to make it worth your while:) Anyway, here are some of the pictures of my escapades. Explanation to follow in the coming days. Hugs. And some kisses too maybe, depending on who you are:) My Chicken Little (i.e. my niece) totally gets some kisses.



mmmm...corn....in acco...



snake charmer...although really i didn't think he was such a charmer myself... :^P







the Bahai gardens in haifa...






the bumper sticker on the back of our rental car which says, "tell me, what is more sweet than a page of talmud (oral law)?" amusing, no?:)

I woke up this morning.

Some days this feels like more of a miracle than others. My night fighting fever and feeling like I needed to visit the shirutim (bathroom – I hope you all enjoy your regular Hebrew vocab sessions on my blog:) made this morning feel particularly miraculous.

You all know those “big questions”? Why we were given time on earth? What are we to accomplish? What am I going to see today? Etc.

I stumbled the 15 minutes walk to school. Dizzy, with headache and need for more sleep – determined not to miss school.

Most days I don’t know necessarily what it was that was so special about my day, what was different, what will mean the world to me in 20 years although I may not have known it on that day.

So, I showed up at school and we were having a communal breakfast for rosh chodesh. I got here just in time for a short dvar torah by one of my friends. He just got back from the states where he spent time for the holidays, time with his lady friend, and apparently (I learned today) completing his formal conversion process (he was raised in the Reform movement and I assume that his mom isn’t Jewish and he wanted to get Orthodox conversion because he now is an Orthodox Jew). For him this has been a meaningful and important process in which he has felt, in his own words, a “coming home.” Every time there is a simcha (a joy) or a b’racha (a blessing) in someone’s life – such as an engagement, a baby, conversion, etc – the entire community celebrates. It has to be one of my favorite things about being in the community that I have discovered so far. One person’s joy becomes the communities and then because the community finds such joy in it, the person’s celebration and revelry in their own joy is increased. We dance, we sing, we drink l’chaims, we cry, we laugh. The community we are building is so beautiful. But what I found most moving in his d’var (words of Torah) today was how great and obvious was his love for Torah, his love for the Jewish people and how grateful he was to be a part of it. He was overcome with emotion, and not that I wouldn’t have anyways, seeing a friend so overjoyed, but my sick, worn down self was taken aback and overcome with teary-eyed joy.

So, like I said, we never know what the reason is that we wake up in the morning, why we have been given this blessing. But for me, today and 20 years from now, I will remember how this man comes alive when he studies Torah. We sometimes talk about the idea of leaving the beit midrash glowing from the Torah we have just learned. I know that some days I have that glow, and that there are probably many more that I don’t. But my friend is a reminder that we can find beauty and strength in what we do with our lives. My blessing for all you wonderful people in my life is that you have that same glow – no matter what work or play you find in your lives to get you there. Glow away.

Miss you all I do, and love you a whole lot too.

Hugs.

Sukkot In Jerusalem.

Sukkot falls a few days after Yom Kippur. This has to be one of the stranger holidays...we build temporary structures no matter where in the world (if that means you have to sit in the sukkah with your feet covered in snow then so be it!) we Jews find ourselves and live, literally, in the sukkah for a week. We are supposed to eat in it, sleep in it, learn in it...we are supposed to feel the temporary nature of the dwellings of the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert. It is also one of the three pilgrimage festivals to Jerusalem. I helped to build the Pardes sukkah this year, which was fun and was actually my first time building one. Also my first year sleeping in one - on erev chag, the first night of sukkot (a seven day holiday in Israel). The only day that is actually a holiday is the first and then there is a period called chol hamo'ed. I had both of the meals for chag at teachers' houses. for lunch i went to my rosh yeshiva's house where I stayed this summer - it was my first time being back since i moved out and it was nice to see them all. and the food was GOOD. We were asked to share a memory of a year past in a sukkah, or involving sukkot. I shared these two things:

First...
I don't remember much about my time in religious school when I was younger. But I do remember going to the sukkah each year with my class and taking class trips to someone's house in my class to eat in a sukkah.

Second...
Never in my life before last year had I eaten in a sukkah with my parents until last year. I was working at A.H.A and they happened to come that week. I am not sure but I think it may have been there first time eating in a sukkah. I didn't think about that fact until I was asked to remember a memory from past years. I don't think I recognized what a holy moment it was last fall, but it was. i heart you mom and pops.

So, I spent the chag at shira chadasha, eating at my teachers' houses and enjoying time in sukkot. word.

After the holiday I mentioned that there is a period called chol hamo'ed. people often travel during this time, many many people in Israel have break from work in some length during this week or so. At the beginning of the week I spent one evening out at my teacher's house in Efrat - in an area called gush etzion. It is a common thing to be invited all week for several meals to the sukkot of family and friends. The teachers know this and so many classes were invited out to the area because several of the teachers live out there. It was another one of those "look, don't judge experiences" because it in the settlements, like t'koa which i visited in the summer. It is an area that has gone back and forth between the Arabs and the Israelis but has been in Israeli hands since 1967. We took a hike on a road called 'the road of the patriarchs' where we saw an ancient mikvah (ritual bath) that is believed to have been used by pilgrims to Jerusalem during the pilgrimage holidays, and a roman mile marker as the road was later used by the romans. We saw a beautiful sunset over the Jerusalem hills and the Judean hills and then had dinner at my teacher's house. Most of my class was there and it was our first outing together as a class not involving school so it was a really nice treat. Take a look at the pics below - they are all from the trip to Efrat.

The next day I went up north for a few days trip with a group of friends...it was a freakin awesome time and I can't wait to tell you about it...tomorrow:) I am heading out to a rosh chodesh bonfire (a holiday every month that marks and celebrates the beginning of the month in the Jewish calendar). things to drink, people to see, guitars to play, fun to be had - I better get to it.

*virtual lovin is being send from this side of the world to all you in the america north. take it, enjoy it, send it back*





Judean Hills



Arab Famer and his son walking their field - the population is mixed out there - Arab and Jewish settlements next to each other...









Roman mile marker







feel like a trip to ritual purity on the way as you make pilgrimage to J-town, I've got just the place....








Judean hills. Sunset.





My class:)







our hike. the sun.

Jump down, turn around, prune a tomato plant?!?

So, this is installment numero uno of my travels over sukkot break. Keep an eye out for more posts, pics, etc.

A few months ago I went to a shabbas lunch of a member of my local favorite minyan - shira chadasha. She is in her 50s and has two teenage daughters that are amazing girls. I went with my friend marni and crashed on the weekly hospitality offered by rotating members of the community. Marni said these women were really cool and so we agreed to pass on the picnic lunch we had planned together and went instead to their house in Old Katamon.

I ended up sitting next to one of the girls - Meytal. We got to talking about her school, her activities, my school, and in the twists and turns of our conversation she learned that I was looking for an opportunity to find a cheap way to volunteer my time for a few days over sukkot – de festival of de booths. So I found out about a family that was in need of some help. They live in Shekef. It is a small moshav (community) near Kiryat Gat. Kiryat Gat is on the way to Beer Sheva and is about an hour drive from Jerusalem. They were one of the families affected by the disengagement last summer from Gaza. No matter what my political leanings are or were toward the disengagement I have heard some sad stories about people not receiving what they were promised from the government in many cases. While this family was given land they weren’t given any guarantee that they could stay there and probably will have to move in the coming years. They are farmers and are establishing their new hot houses. They grow grapes for eating, for export and they also grow cherry tomatoes and bell peppers for export. They are having difficulties establishing their hot houses and so two frinds and I went to Shekef to help.

We left Jerusalem at 5AM for Shekef and arrived after a few windy hours on a few buses at Shekef. We got dropped off on a street corner and called our hosts for a ride to the hot houses. After only a few minutes hanging out playing with a resident dog on the corner our ride came and we were brought right to work. We were given work in the cherry tomato hot house. We spent the day until 5pm pruning the tomato vines. Farming – hard.

On the way home we got to spend a bit of time with the Thai workers (there are MANY of them in Israel and especially working in agriculture – they took over after a lot of Arab workers couldn’t get to work anymore after the intifada started – I think that’s the story anyway). The guy who drove us, one of the owners if the hot houses, called them “Thailand” which my friends and I found a bit off at first, but then they seemed to call themselves that and it was a firm reminder to me to look and look and look and probably never to judge because I can’t understand the intricacies of this place no matter how hard I try.

Thailand were dropped off first at their rooms and then we were taken to another area of the moshav to sleep. We had a whole little trailer/house to ourselves. The houses all around us were very new and there was building going on everywhere – all of the people living in this area were new arrivals after the disengagement. All of the homes looked the same. There was a gate around the community. I wouldn’t chose to live in a place like that in the states if I could help it, kinda odd to choose to be in one now but such is life I guess. Anyway the digs were great and we even had a shower to wash the yellow-green (depending on the light) pollen that was caked onto our clothes and bodies – seriously, it was even snowing from my eyebrows with pollen.

The guys who were hosting us told us over and over about their makolet (corner store-ish), or one might call it a bodega if you were in NYC or a dep in Montreal, etc. So, we decided to check out the local hot spot. Curious thing number 2: there was an entire aisle in the makolet of Thai products. You could hear more Thai than Hebrew or Arabic. It is just funny to think about the original ideals of many early Zionist thinkers – that labor should be Jewish, self reliance perhaps.

We ate ice cream, food, and milkies (a strange Israeli pudding-whipped crème thing) and laughed our way home almost walking off a cliff…an adventure indeed.

Up at 5AM. Drive to hot houses. Eat. Pray. Work all day. Make funny home videos during our breaks. Collect the victims of our work – the tomatoes that fell off the vines as we pruned. Take bus home. Feel good that we helped – even if just a little.

This was instillation one from my sukkot break. Number 2: Sukkot (festival of booths baby!) in Jerusalem!

Much love from a little woman.

huh? WTF is she doing?!

Tune in later (but i just got word that i am going to a concert tonight at the dead sea - shlomo artzi! So, i might not be posting tonight depending on when i get home - so if not then tomorrow you'll learn about my recent, if not latest as my life is rediculously wonderfully crazy here in eretz yisrael, adventure as a farmer...

Yom Kippur - yom ofanaim??

Rosh Hashanah was not so meaningful for me this year. I had a hard time getting into the holiday, as i mentioned before. The main reasons were that the first minyan that i went to had no spirit, no yirah, there was no power there. I was also overwhelmed a bit by the 4 3-5 hour meals that i had over the course of two days. it was wonderful company, but seriously it was eat, pray, sleep, eat sleep, pray. it was intense. i was determined to be in a better state for yom kippur.

i did slichot, a service done from about a week before rosh hashanah until yom kippur where we ask for forgiveness for our less then stellar behavior, most days. I did some study by myself about the chag (holiday). I spoke to friends and family and spent hours asking for forgiveness and making amends. I tried hard, me says. It worked, as far as i can tell.

I went to services on erev yom kippur and was pleasantly suprised by my minyan selection. I went to something called the Lieder Minyan. It was crowded, but i got there early enough that i could get a seat within earshot of the chazan. The prayers were said slowly and powerfully. I had no trouble following along and participating. My studying paid off because i wasnt lost while i was davening...i didn't feel entirely comfortable but i did feel ready and able to humble myself and accept and admit my vices, my less proud moments...i find it hard to say the word sin...but i suppose that too. The minyan is known for being one of the more intense in jerusalem. They go on and on...leaving in most of the piyutim (liturgical poems) that are optional...i cant think of the great words to describe it but it was very moving. It is also known as a "hippie minyan", and i am sure that my students last year would be ecstatic to know i went to such a thing because they insisited (some of them:) on calling me the hippie fellow...oy. my fast was difficult, and i only made a half fast...my body can't work like that i tells ya. it was also right across the street from my home, which was an added bonus. Now, i have to tell yall something that happened that day outside of shul - i am sure will stay with my longer (whether or not it should be so...) than my specific thoughts, words, or cavanah (intention) while praying on this yom kuppur. I don't mean to diminish the weight and power of yom kippur...it is the holiest day of the year, but on my walks home from shul i saw things that encapsulate the idea of yom kippur, i think, in Israel.

I walked out of shul erev chag (night od the holiday) to find the streets filled with people. No cars on the road. None. (For better or worse) It is illegal to drive o Yom Kippur. The city stops. It breaths deep and cars literally stop. I thought this was only the case in Jerusalem but a friend in Tel Aviv told me that it is also the case there. No matter if israelis are secular or religious they all experience an entire shift in the country. All the stores are closed - not even a chinese restaurant like christmas, mom and pops! It was wild! It was something that someone living outside of israel can ever experience really. As this place becomes my home i become more and more accustomed to its ways, but this shook my back out of this growing familiarity into new ground once again - in a very pronounced way. It wasn't a negative feeling to be shaken loose from my tenuous comfort...releaving more...i don't want to stop being amazed and observant of this bizzare and beautiful place. And so Yom Kippur has another name that only applies to the holy land - yom ofanaim - day of bicycles. They are all over - bikes, skateboards, skates, everything - everything except cars.

There was one point where i took a break from davening and went outside for a stretch. I was standing on the median of the road when i started to hear a slowly approaching hum. It got louder. And louder. Suddenly i started to see what was making the noise coming down the hill - dozens of skaters on their boards travelling like a flock of birds. Their collective got louder and closer to me and i watched them speed by me. A flock of Jewish skaters taking advantage of the free roads while most everyone was sleeping, praying or spending time with their loved ones. I am not sure if many other people would think so, but i thought it was startiling and unexpected beauty on my day of atonement.

Next installment (hopefully later tonight?): You all may know Chava the songleader, Chava the teacher, Chava the bus driver, Chava the this-that-and-the-other. But now I've gotta tell you about Chava the farmer?!?!?!?!

writing these things is important to me so all you distant-close people will know what is happening with me...but it sure does make me miss you big. Hugs, Laughs, Good Spirits.